best minidv - prosumer or close? budget up to $1200?

Question

hello - been doing alot of reading - Im looking to buy a good camcorder, probably a miniDV, something that can do good video (would like something with almost 'film' feel to it - but I know that costs alot more) - and ideally something I can mess around with, learn the craft of filmmaking (not home videos or baseball games) and still have it be useful beyond a point-n-shoot...any suggestions? Im leaning towards Canons for their lenses and quality, but there are ALOT of options out ther.

Answer 1

I have a canon GL2. I got it off of eBay for $1500. You could either save $300 more to buy one, or another good choice is a pv-gs400. It has almost all the manual functions of the gl2 (but less options, of course, for example, less shutter speed options), and you could probably get one on eBay for $700-$800 if not less. It also has native 16:9 chips, so widescreen will actually be wider, instead of the GL2's crop option. Personally, I wouldnt go for HD cameras yet, because it's either HDV or DVCPRO HD thats available under 10,000. HDV isnt the greatest for editing, not to mention limited HD delivery options, and DVCPRO HD costs $6000 in the HVX200. So that's what I think, a GL2, or pv-gs400. Also, another advantage of the gl2 is that it has a 20x lens, which is great for getting blurred backgrounds (not film-like DOF per se, but looks like it). As for the film-look, on the GL2, I set my SS at 1/30, and do adjustments in post. On the gs400, you could set it on cinema mode (if you dont plan on using a program like Magic bullet), and then adjust. When adjusting, I find that brightness and contrast usually does the trick, so apply filters for those in your editing program and try it. BTW, I'm interested in filmmaking as well, so feel free to contact me. Hope this helps!

Answer 2

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